Raises the question: I know this is getting ahead, but in a hypothetical theoretical magical and delicious finals matchup between Mavs/Cavs, who starts for Cleveland? You try to put Tawn on Dirk (who would fillet his skinny little ass) or start Varejao? (who is kind of the perfect defender for Dirk, at least among our bigs) Maybe give JJ some run? ANY chance Roker shifts his rotation to match up with the Mavs?

(My best guess is that, at best, he starts the same 5 but AV gets extended run when Dirk is out there)

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Oiy. After 1Q, OKC really looks green. (no pun intended) blown layups, stupid fouls, and then an egregarious turnover with 8 seconds left on the clock. (Durant attempted to dump the ball off to Maynor, his rookie pg, after whittling the clock down)

It's easy to harp about things we'd like to see the cavs do better, but watching young teams like Portland and Milwaukee (and even Atlanta and Charlotte, to a lesser extent) reminds me of just how far the Cavs have come.

LeiSo is tough to watch, but Lebron would never dribble down to 8 seconds, then attempt to drop off the ball to a covered pg 5 ft away. He'd either wait till the clock was almost spent and chuck, or drive.

EDIT: Forget it, im going to bed, I clearly have no clue. (21-8 OKC run brings it to even as the Lakers lose all their tenacity)

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Gradysmanldy wrote:Entertaining game between OKC/Lakers....too bad I couldn't say for the ending. OKC is going to be absolutely filthy when they get some a) experience b) post scoring.

The question with them becomes how long will it take to get the missing piece(s), and then when they do will they have had to give up a piece they have now to do so?

The formula in the NBA still remains 2 stars and some quality, or 1 star and a couple few 2nd tier players with a deep bench. The Pistons are still the only franchise to go the latter route in the last what 25 years, until we do hopefully this season.

Criminals in this town used to believe in things...honor, respect."I heard your dog is sick, so bought you this shovel"

Hey Herm, remember when I told you the Cats play lovely D but having no real outside shooter and having your two big offensive players running the same rugged style game was going to kill them in the playoffs.

e0y2e3 wrote:Hey Herm, remember when I told you the Cats play lovely D but having no real outside shooter and having your two big offensive players running the same rugged style game was going to kill them in the playoffs.

Doesn't help that their PF is meh, and their PG cant really shoot well from range, either. Lack of post shooting and 3 pt shooting means Orlando can just pack the paint. None of the players respecting the jumper.

Check me out at Dawgsbynature, where I write stuff, or @twitter as Josh Finney.

e0y2e3 wrote:Hey Herm, remember when I told you the Cats play lovely D but having no real outside shooter and having your two big offensive players running the same rugged style game was going to kill them in the playoffs.

Doesn't help that their PF is meh, and their PG cant really shoot well from range, either. Lack of post shooting and 3 pt shooting means Orlando can just pack the paint. None of the players respecting the jumper.

I agree w/ the school of thought that when Diaw, Wallace and Jack are all on the floor together Diaw plays the role of SF and Crash PF.

Beyond that, yeah already covered that whole last of post scoring and 3 point shooting.

e0y2e3 wrote:I dunno why it just clicked for me how bad our home crowd actually is.

But they suck.

Maybe our crowd is just worn out because they use all of their energy during commercial time outs with the scream team, moondog, cavalier girls, those fat fuckers that think they are funny, t-shirt cannons, contests to see how high the decibal level can get, Ohio lottery tickets falling from the rafters...etc...etc...

e0y2e3 wrote:I dunno why it just clicked for me how bad our home crowd actually is.

But they suck.

That's not very nice.

Yet it's quite truthful. I've noticed this for much of the past 2 years. The crowd rarely seems to get into it unless the Cavs have a comfortable lead. When the opponent makes a run or takes a double digit lead, the fans fall into "The Drive/Fumble" mode and become quiet. I watch other games and see fans make noise to wake their team up. Get on their feet while the team makes a great run, not after a to has been called. My biggest peeve is that once a victory is secured, the crowd at the Q won't stand up until :20 show on the clock. They should be on their feet and cheering at, if not before, the 1 minute mark. It's sometimes embarrasing watching it at home during a nationaly televised game.

Portland has ALWAYS been a great crowd, as far back as when Walton, Hollins and co were there.

JMHO

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB

e0y2e3 wrote:I dunno why it just clicked for me how bad our home crowd actually is.

But they suck.

That's not very nice.

Yet it's quite truthful. I've noticed this for much of the past 2 years. The crowd rarely seems to get into it unless the Cavs have a comfortable lead. When the opponent makes a run or takes a double digit lead, the fans fall into "The Drive/Fumble" mode and become quiet. I watch other games and see fans make noise to wake their team up. Get on their feet while the team makes a great run, not after a to has been called. My biggest peeve is that once a victory is secured, the crowd at the Q won't stand up until :20 show on the clock. They should be on their feet and cheering at, if not before, the 1 minute mark. It's sometimes embarrasing watching it at home during a nationaly televised game.

Portland has ALWAYS been a great crowd, as far back as when Walton, Hollins and co were there.

JMHO

I've never been to a Cavs game, so I really can't opine, I assume you have so i'll take your word for it.

I would be punched in the face if I showed up at a meeting with those data points and declared there was some kind of trend.

Of course that is a near constant recurring theme with most of the stuff like this that is bubbling up all the time now.

Shame, as I love Ziller.

add: I get this isn't meant to be thorough, rock solid statistical analysis, and it's fine if everyone understands that; it's plenty fun to see these things. Just that too many people take stuff like this as gospel and iron clad, though.

I know more about pizza than you. Much more in fact. - Cerebral_DownTime

For one thing there is absolutely one fact that you can ascertain from those numbers: that Odom just isn't scoring. Because my eyes tell me Brown and Farmer have been playing above their means.

Secondly: I mean no shit these stats don't actually explain the entirety of the Lake Show's bench. That said, you obviously have never been in consulting. Billion dollar deals go through daily w/ less concrete and more made up backing.

Cleveland Transplant wrote:I hope Boston wins that series, only for the simple fact that Lebron and co. can bury, and embarrass, them on national television and finally put that insufferable team to pasture.

What happened at the end of that game is exactly why I don't want to play Boston. It is going to get chippy and Shaq is already looking to get things square with Big Bitch Davis.

They can get chippy all they want. I think it's pretty clear the Cavs are in their heads. With a full Cavaliers line-up, they don't stand much of a chance.

Beating them, burying them, and spitting on their graves would almost be as nice as winning a championship. Almost.

it's going to be cleveland and boston in round 2. miami isn't going to get it done with 1 player.

celtics are going to be the ones sitting around waiting for the cavs to figure out how to defend the pick and roll....

cavs - celtics is going to be ugly for the clevelanders...

"Meh. Calling me names on the internet is really no big deal, happens all the time." - e0y2e3

watching the game last night I was thinking the same thing Mr Ea$tC's are putting up a balanced offense every night and Ray Allen has got a red hot stroke going. Rajon Rondo abuses us and we're going to need an epic series from Mo and AJ to beat a PLAYOFF Boston team (not to be confused with the 50 win team of the regular season)

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

e0y2e3 wrote:I dunno why it just clicked for me how bad our home crowd actually is.

But they suck.

Our crowd is completely handicapped by our phony "D-fense" voice and over stimulating bullshit sound effects. It's the playoffs, can we turn off the music on every change of possession? It's minor league stuff. Even OK City and Milwaukee don't pump in noise like they do at the Q.

Our crowd has been neutered by the building and forced experience.

Anyway... Bucks got on the board today and OK City / LAL is on now, it's a must watch IMO.

Ditto on our crowd and the forced expierence take. Wish I would have gotten on the site sooner, cause I had the same thoughts going on. Was sitting at the bar pointing to the OKC crowd like a madman telling people to shutup and pay attention.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

e0y2e3 wrote:I dunno why it just clicked for me how bad our home crowd actually is.

But they suck.

Our crowd is completely handicapped by our phony "D-fense" voice and over stimulating bullshit sound effects. It's the playoffs, can we turn off the music on every change of possession? It's minor league stuff. Even OK City and Milwaukee don't pump in noise like they do at the Q.

Our crowd has been neutered by the building and forced experience.

Anyway... Bucks got on the board today and OK City / LAL is on now, it's a must watch IMO.

Our home crowd is good when it matters. I've been there for all the big games in the LeBron Era, and it's as good a home crowd as you'll find in the Association.

1st round is for the amateurs. All the peeps that know they'll be there for half the rd 2 games and all the games in the ECF and NBA Finals sell their round ones. Recoup some dollars, brain cells, and strain on the vocal cords for games that actually mean something. Anyone with a brain knows this Bulls team is incapable of beating us at The Q in a game that matters. Save your ammo.

SO what you get in these first round series is all the sons and daughters of the season ticket holders, peeps that bought tickets on Flash Seats just to say they were at a playoff game, and a bunch of other mama lukes that make the overall crowd resemble the Indians opening day insanity.

Cavs home crowds in round one suck. Actually through about game 5 of rd 2. Then they're the best in the league.

"It's like dating a woman who hates you so much she will never break up with you, even if you burn down the house every single autumn." ~ Chuck Klosterman on Browns fans relationship with the Browns

British_Pharaoh wrote:watching the game last night I was thinking the same thing Mr Ea$tC's are putting up a balanced offense every night and Ray Allen has got a red hot stroke going. Rajon Rondo abuses us and we're going to need an epic series from Mo and AJ to beat a PLAYOFF Boston team (not to be confused with the 50 win team of the regular season)

they look a lot different now that the real season has started right? i'm telling you brit, the 2nd round is not going to be for the feint of heart. especially if you're rooting for cleveland.

"Meh. Calling me names on the internet is really no big deal, happens all the time." - e0y2e3

British_Pharaoh wrote:watching the game last night I was thinking the same thing Mr Ea$tC's are putting up a balanced offense every night and Ray Allen has got a red hot stroke going. Rajon Rondo abuses us and we're going to need an epic series from Mo and AJ to beat a PLAYOFF Boston team (not to be confused with the 50 win team of the regular season)

they look a lot different now that the real season has started right? i'm telling you brit, the 2nd round is not going to be for the feint of heart. especially if you're rooting for cleveland.

Yes mon ami and I am agreeing with you

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"